


Your Knight

by DramaticalHearts (kusokawaii)



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Discord: The Kingdom of Shipping (Dr. STONE), Falling In Love, Hand Jobs, Headcanon, Internalized Homophobia, Kissing, Love Confessions, Loyalty, M/M, Mutual Masturbation, Mutual Pining, POV First Person, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:55:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27232360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kusokawaii/pseuds/DramaticalHearts
Summary: [Manga spoilers up to chapter 166]Stanley and Xeno have been friends for nearly as long as either of them can remember. A part of one another's lives, inextricably, important to one another in ways that they won't fully grasp for many years to come.Stanley doesn't question why the scientist stayed by his side, but he doesn't take it for granted.As time went by, and the physical distance between them grew, Stanley kept on reaching out — even when a part of his friend became unreachable.Whether or not he understood what his friend was going through, whether or not his deeper feelings were reciprocated, whether they were near or far apart... he would be there for him.Thousands of years in stone had a way of changing everything... but a few things would remain the same.[Stanley's POV]
Relationships: Stanley Snyder/Dr. Xeno
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67





	Your Knight

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, I didn't think I had it in me, but here we are- my first StanXeno fic!!  
> (-stares at word count- I thought this would be short when I started it...)
> 
> A great deal of this is my own personal headcanons for Stanley (and Xeno) -- it's _intended_ to be canon-compliant, but in the event that future manga chapters interfere with that, consider it divergent ^^;
> 
>  **Some content warnings, for those who need them:** Mentions of hunting, an abusive and alcoholic father, homophobic slurs, internalized homophobia, off-page original character death, abandonment issues, discussion of depression and a vague mention of PTSD.
> 
> That aside, I've also made [a StanXeno playlist on youtube!](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJqCixdYf4oXN8R4NrGIsZZAim0IuUWnP) Feel free to listen to it as you read~
> 
> Special thanks to [coolangelsthesis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolangelsthesis/pseuds/coolangelsthesis) for beta-reading this for me!! <3
> 
> UPDATE: This fic has been translated into Russian!! You can read it [here!](https://ficbook.net/readfic/10392703)

We’ve been friends almost as long as I can remember.

He was the neighbor’s kid. Our parents introduced us soon after they moved to the neighborhood; getting him out of the city would be good for him, his mom said. He was a couple years younger, more shy than me, needing to be coaxed out from behind his mom’s leg before he gave a small ‘hi’.

One of the first times we’d played together, I’d said to him that his eyes looked like a cartoon characters’ (because kids say stupid mean shit sometimes). I was teasing, but it made those eyes fill up with tears.

I didn’t like the sight of that. I hadn’t thought twice when I said it, but seeing him cry made me regret it. It felt awful.

“I’m sorry,” I said, unprompted. “It was just a joke. I… I like your eyes. They’re pretty.”

That word didn’t feel right when it slipped out, didn’t feel like something a _boy_ would say, but he stopped crying immediately, staring at me before a big smile broke out on his face. “Thank you!” he beamed, his mood changing in an instant.

Kids are easy to please, I guess.

Luckily neither of our parents were there to witness that. There were a lot of close calls like that — times when I’d do some weird and suspect shit that would make Xeno’s parents question whether he should be hanging out with a kid like me. Every time, Xeno would defend me, say “Stanley’s a good kid! I know it!” 

Even at times when I wasn’t so sure of that myself.

When we went to the same school, the roles were reversed — the other kids saw Xeno, small, skinny, shy and nerdy Xeno, a ‘gifted kid’ who’d been moved up a couple grades, as someone they could pick on any chance they got. The first time I saw it, it gave me the same shitty feeling that seeing him cry as a little kid did. I had to do something. Fortunately by that time I was taller, and had some idea of how to act to make others feel intimidated by me. I stepped in, hurling a few choice words, and the bully backed down fast. The next time, I had to get physical.

Needless to say, I grew a new reputation fast.

I didn’t care, though. Anyone who’d bully someone like Xeno wasn’t worthy to be in my presence. And… Xeno was the only one who believed in me. No one else’s opinion mattered.

Xeno had a love of science for as long as I knew him, making me watch science-themed kids’ TV shows with him and rambling about various facts he was learning to me. I tried my best to keep up with him, if only because he looked so damn happy when I understood something. My parents loved it, thinking Xeno could be a free tutor of sorts for me. I didn’t care about any of that then — I didn’t know what I wanted to be, yet.

I liked watching Xeno in action, though. The passion he had for science made me care about it too — cliche as it is to say, he made it _fun ._ He always tried his best to share it with not just me, but anyone who’d listen to him for a moment or two.

In middle school he ran for class president, with a platform of science-based leadership, from fully funding the science club to demanding the installation of energy-efficient light bulbs. He lost to the quarterback of the football team, who ran on a platform of getting the cafeteria to serve pizza once a week.

“You okay?” I asked him afterward, thinking he’d be crushed. But he nodded with a small resigned smile, not seeming too bothered at all. “It’s alright. Kids will be kids, and it’s hard to fight the allure of pizza,” he said with a little laugh. “It’ll be different when we’re older. They won’t be able to deny the true value of science by then. It’s given us so much, and it’ll give us much more, if we let it. We’ll advance further and further, right on to the stars.” He looked to me. “The future belongs to people like us, Stanley. People who believe and trust in science. Not people like them.”

I wasn’t so sure of that, but his confidence made me want to believe it, too.

When our biology class held its first major dissection of a frog — Xeno and me were the only ones who went at our specimens with gusto, no reluctance or complaint whatsoever. Xeno beamed at me afterward, babbling after class about how impressed he was, how I’m becoming a proper scientist. I had to tell him that it didn’t bother me because I’d helped my dad field-dress a deer when he’d taken me out hunting with him before — a frog was no big deal compared to _that._

Anyone else at school I’d told about my hunting trips with my dad would either cringe or say that I’d be the next school shooter (usually girls). Not Xeno. He was _intrigued._

“What’s that like? How long have you been hunting? Have you ever used a gun?”

I shrugged, said that it was kind of boring at times, but getting out in the woods was nice. Quiet. I couldn’t complain about free meat, either. I’d been hunting with my dad ever since I was old enough to, legally. I’d just started handling a gun, but I hadn’t shot anything living yet — I was still practicing, and my dad, the bastard that he was, at least emphasized the importance of making sure your shot is accurate before targeting a real animal. No need to make it suffer needlessly, or prolong the inevitable.

Xeno wanted to see my gun, and I brought him over to my house that afternoon to do just that. I showed him my rifle, and Xeno examined it up and down, seemingly fascinated by its structure and functions.

“Don’t shoot yourself,” I warned with a smirk, watching him play with the safety mechanism. An idea dawned on me then. “Wanna see me shoot?”

Xeno stared at me with his inky black eyes, and quickly nodded.

I had a shooting range set up in a nearby field, beer and soda cans set up in a line to be shot down, with a few standing bullseye targets strewn about. “You’ll need these,” I said as I handed Xeno a pair of ear plugs before I slipped on my own pair of protective ear muffs. (My dad had his own set, but for several reasons, I didn’t want to take the risk of him finding out that I’d lent them to Xeno)  
  
Xeno watched eagerly as I got in position, readying my rifle and aiming for a center can. Letting out a breath, I squeezed the trigger — the can went flying with a bang. A perfect hit.

Xeno cheered, clapping his hands. “Elegant!” 

He’d taken to saying that a lot — outer space was elegant, chemistry was elegant, calculus was elegant, and apparently the way I shot a gun was elegant, too. Well, not that I minded it.

I grinned at him, feeling confident. In no time Xeno had come closer, rambling about speed and trajectory and how physics could help me aim at moving targets better.

“Wait,” I said, stopping his rambling for a moment. “You can help me shoot better? You’ve never even fired a gun.”

Xeno smiled. “It’s just physics! If you pay attention to all the factors at play, making the perfect shot should be easy. The laws of science govern all things, after all.”

I listened intently to his lessons, finally able to make sense and use of all the scientific things he was telling me — advice far different from my dad’s. Using his insights, my skills made months’ worth of advancements in just weeks.

I put them to the test at last not long after, taking down a ten-point buck in one shot.

(I took it from my dad, who saw it first; “Can you do it?” he whispered to me as he handed me the gun after I’d asked him for it; “I can,” I said as I aimed.)

My dad couldn’t have been prouder, crediting his own lessons for my rapid improvement and sending the deer’s head to the taxidermist for mounting. I didn’t tell my dad about the shooting lessons Xeno gave me — his opinion of him had soured by then, unable to figure out why I was still hanging out with a guy like him. Xeno understood why I let him take the credit, knowing my father all too well; it was our secret to keep between us.

(He saw the mounted buck when he came over to my house afterward; his eyes lit up as he looked it over, then asked me if it was weird, seeing my victim’s face every day; it was, at first, but I got used to it.)

Soon enough, I would return the favor; Xeno had gotten a brand new, expensive telescope for his birthday, and he had recently lamented how he had a hard time getting a good view of the stars here near our neighborhood — there was too much light at night, he said.

I thought about it, and had an idea. “Ya know, my dad and I came across a big clearing in the woods when we last went hunting. It’s got a real nice view of the sky… maybe that would work?”

Xeno’s eyes lit up — it’s amazing how his dark eyes could do that somehow. I guess little kid-me was right. “Can you take me there?”

I vaguely remembered the way. I smiled down at him. “I can.”

The next clear night luckily fell on a weekend, and we headed to the woods just before sunset, so we could find our way before it got too dark. I found the clearing easily enough, fortunately for Xeno, who was getting exhausted from carrying his share of the equipment. (I offered to carry it all, but Xeno insisted on carrying that heavy as hell telescope.)

We got there just before dark, and Xeno set up his telescope where the ground was most even, while I put up the tent. “You’ll… stay here with me, right?” he asked, his voice soft.

I gave him a look and scoffed. “Of course I will. I wouldn’t leave you alone in the woods. That’s why I brought this,” I said, and pulled out my rifle.

“What’s _that_ for?!”

“In case we need to scare off a bear. Or a rabid raccoon,” I shrugged. “You could run into anything in the woods, ‘specially at night.”

“That’s true…” Xeno looked down, seeming nervous for a moment, before looking at me again. “Alright, you watch the ground while I watch the sky!”

“You got it,” I said, taking position right beside him, one hand on my rifle as I listened to the sounds in the woods around us.

Sometimes he would ask me about the sounds he heard.

Like a too-loud crack.

“What’s that?”

“Just a branch snapping. An animal’s moving, but probably not toward us.”

A little later, we heard some chattering and squabbling noises.

“...What’s that?”

“Raccoons. Must’ve been feeding somewhere. As long as they don’t come close, we’re fine.”

Some time after that, we heard an echoing cry, that quickly turned into a _scream,_ sounding over and over as it moved through the woods.

“...Stan,” he said after that, in an urgent whisper, “what _is_ that… ?”

I listened, and frowned. “Not sure. It sounds injured.”

“Can you do anything… ?”

“If I could find it, I could put it out of its misery… but it could lash out at me, too.”

“Ah,” Xeno said; I could tell he was disturbed by the noises. “The woods are a scary place, aren’t they…”

“They’re not our home, that’s for sure. That’s why us humans got out of ‘em as soon as possible,” I said bluntly. “But, as long as you know that you’re not the strongest animal out here, prepare yourself right, and have some respect, you’ll be fine.”

Xeno let out a relieved sigh at that, my logical words comforting him somehow. “Yeah. You’re right. Ah, it stopped…”

There was finally relative peace in the woods then, just the sound of an owl hooting or faint rustling now and then.

“Stan,” Xeno said, nudging me gently. “Look.”

He pointed up at the sky, and I looked up for the first time since I got there. 

“Whoa…”

In the pitch dark, the sky was filled with more stars than I could ever begin to count. Every direction I looked, there were more. Xeno pointed out the faint outline of what he said was the Milky Way — if we were in the middle of the desert, he said, we could see it plain as day.

“Still not dark enough?” I said, a little annoyed.

“No, wait,” he said, putting a hand on my shoulder, guiding me to the telescope. “Take a look. Don’t bump it.”

I complied, leaning over and peering into the eyepiece of the telescope, carefully.

Through it, I saw this… cloudy thing, with a lot of colors in it, swirling together. It was surrounded by stars, so I knew it wasn’t a smudge on the lens.

“What… is that?” I asked.

“It’s a nebula,” Xeno answered. I didn’t have to look at him to know he was smiling. “I’ve been looking for this one for ages. Isn’t it beautiful?”

I couldn’t take my eye off it. “Never seen anything like it… I’ve seen photos of stuff like this in books, but… it really exists, huh…”

“The elegant beauty of space is truly unmatched,” Xeno said. “It takes my breath away, too.”

I leaned back from the telescope, feeling like I’d hogged it for a minute too long. “Ah, here you go.”

I was about to turn back around to continue my watch of the woods, when Xeno caught my sleeve with his fingers.

“I never would’ve seen this if it weren’t for you.” He smiled at me, just barely visible in the dim lantern light and starlit dark. “Thank you.”

My heart skipped a beat. That was new.

I looked away with a smirk, pretending he hadn’t just stopped my heart for a second. “Sure.”

It was a chilly fall night, but after that I felt warm, for some reason.

I got back home late that night, after seeing that Xeno got out of the forest safely. If the clouds hadn’t blown in, we’d have been out there all night. I’d left a note for my father, saying that I was going camping, if only so he wouldn’t call the cops. I didn’t even expect him to be awake when I got back.

When the smell of beer hit my nose as I walked in the door, I knew I hadn’t been so lucky.

“Where th’ hell have ya been all night?” he slurred.

“Camping, remember? I left a note,” I said, shutting the door behind me.

My father approached. “Were ya with that _boy_ in the woods _all night?!”_

I knew he was referring to Xeno. There was no one else I’d go to the woods at night with. “He got a new telescope. I told him about a place I knew where he could try it out. I wasn’t gonna leave the guy alone in the woods,” I shrugged, nonchalant.

He grabbed my shoulder. “Did he come on to you?”

I froze. “What? Let go of me.”

“Did. He. Come onto you?” he repeated, his alcohol-laced breath hitting my face.

“No?! What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. Ya know that boy’s a lil’ faggot.”

I wrenched myself out of his grasp. I resisted the urge to punch him; that wasn’t a fight I’d win. “Shut the fuck up! You don’t know anything!”

“He never talks about girls, an’ he spends most of his time wit’ you. He ain’t _normal.”_

“He doesn’t _care_ about that shit! Neither do I!” I didn’t care how much I’d raised my voice. “He’s my friend, that’s it!”

“You gotta be careful ‘round boys like him. You got yer mother’s looks, fags can’t resist that.”

“You speaking from experience?”

I got hit for that. My mouth always got me in more trouble than anything else.

I can still remember the taste of the blood on my lip from that. “Fuck you. I’m outta here,” I spat, turning and opening the front door. I ran through it just before he could grab me to pull me back in. I kept on running, not in any particular direction. Just _away._

I stopped at the border of the forest, and looked behind me before sitting down at the base of a tree, catching my breath.

I’d suspected that my father had felt that way about Xeno; he just hadn’t put it in those words before that night. I was pissed on Xeno’s behalf, but… for some reason, his words hit too close to home.

So much of our friendship had been about science. I’d help Xeno with his experiments and projects, and often learn more from him than I would from any of my teachers. It’d been only natural that at one point his scientific curiosity would turn to our changing bodies, comparing the differences between the two, and how they reacted… I guess what made it weird, I’d realized then, was that I _liked_ being examined by Xeno in that way. I didn’t find it strange or uncomfortable at all. I liked seeing his body, too.

And how he made me feel that night… what did that _mean…?_

I threw my head back and looked up at the sky. The stars reminded me of him.

They blurred, and I covered my eyes with my forearm to catch and conceal the tears that fell from them.

I was terrified at the thought of not being “normal.” I knew what _not_ being normal led to, from watching what Xeno had to put up with at school for years, from hearing the things that adults said about people, _especially_ gay people.

I didn’t want my life to be any harder than it already was.

But, I couldn’t leave Xeno, either. He was too important to me, and I was important to him, too. To break off our friendship… it would’ve broken him. And me, too.

I had to endure it. Whether I was _in love_ with Xeno or not, whether he felt the same or not… I’d bear it, and stay with him.

Because I knew what it was like to be left alone, all too suddenly.

By this point, my mom had been gone for a few years. My dad had treated her like shit too, and one day, she just wanted a break, to leave the house for the weekend. I didn’t think much of it, when she left; hell, I needed the break, too. The tension in the house had been thick enough to slice.

Neither of us expected what would happen.

It should’ve been normal. It should have been simple enough.

Car crashes don’t care about any of that.

And just like that— she was gone.

I was angry about it for a long time — I felt like she’d abandoned me. But as time went by, spent alone with my father, I realized she was just trying to get away too.

_Well… I’ll find a way to escape, without abandoning anyone._

That’s what I thought to myself then.

I was so naive.

I contemplated staying the night at Xeno’s, but… I wasn’t sure I could face him again just yet. Even though I knew he would’ve understood. (Leaving out the words my father said about him, of course.)

Not being able to decide, I sat nearby his house for a while, thinking, and when fate decided not to throw Xeno my way, I went back to my own house to see if things had calmed down any. Peeking in the window, I found my dad passed out asleep on the couch. Having found him like that before, I knew I could just sneak past and head for my room — hoping I’d be lucky enough that he wouldn’t remember what had happened by morning.

I lucked out — in the morning he had only groaned to me about his hangover, and I only lingered long enough to grab a quick breakfast and run out the door, as was my daily routine, school or not.

That day was different, though — I’d made my mind up, and was going to spend my free time that day exploring my options.

I decided I would enlist that day.

It would get me out, get me far, far away, and my dad wouldn’t, couldn’t, say shit about it — he’d always been ridiculously patriotic, so he wouldn’t see having his only son join the armed forces as an abandonment at all, nor would he try to stop me. It was perfect.

Except… it would separate me from Xeno.

“I’m gonna sign up for the military,” I told him one day. He was the first I told. The first one I _had_ to tell. “I’m getting outta here, as soon as I can.”

“Is it your dad?”

“It’s a lot of things,” I deflected. “I figured I’m gonna leave here someday, why put it off any longer? I still dunno what I’m gonna do for a career anyway. Besides,” I looked at him, “you’re gonna leave someday too, right? This town’s way too small for you.”

Xeno’s eyes widened, then he looked down. “...I wasn’t sure when to tell you, but…” He looked back up at me. “I’m going to work for NASA. As soon as possible.”

I smiled. “That’s perfect. Guess we’ll both be working for the government, huh?”

Xeno chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

Part of me had hoped that Xeno would’ve wanted to join the military with me, too — I’d even entertained thoughts of us training together, even though I knew he was a lot weaker than me. Not _every_ position in the military had to do with direct combat, after all. But this was even better.

NASA… would he become an astronaut? Be part of rocket launches? Discover aliens? I didn’t know, but more than anything, I was excited for him. I didn’t mind having to be separated from him if it meant that he could follow his dreams — it would give me time to sort out my feelings toward him, too.

Soon enough, we both got just what we wanted: I got into the Marines easily, and Xeno was accepted by his dream university, soon snagging an internship that quickly turned into a paying job at NASA. Both meant that we’d have to live apart, for the first time in our lives. We promised to keep in touch, in any way possible, even when it was hard to; we were each other’s only link to home.

We were both busy, as it would turn out — me with basic training and moving up the ranks, him being shown the ropes and finding his niche. We’d email, phone and video-call, whenever our schedules would line up and allow it, filling each other in on what we were doing and seeing.

Xeno was so ecstatic at the beginning, finally living out his dream — it made me want to try harder, so he could be proud of me, too.

As time went on, our positions changed too.

“Hey, guess what,” I said over a video-call.

“Hm?”

“I’m going to be a sniper.”

Xeno’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yep, I finally found my niche. It’s just like hunting, but with people instead,” I chuckled darkly.

“Have you… done that yet?” Xeno said, his voice lowering. “Killed someone, I mean?”

“Not yet, but if the need arises… I can do it.”

“I see… I believe in you, Stan. I know you’ve got the skills.”

“Thanks,” I said, digging into my pocket for a pack of cigarettes. “I’m probably going to hell anyway. Might as well seal the deal,” I smirked.

Xeno laughed again. “Is it really murder if it’s done for the sake of your country?”

“Dunno. Still kills a guy,” I replied, fishing out a cigarette.

Xeno pouted. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“What? Kill guys?”

“No, smoke.”

“Sorry,” I said, lighting it. I’d started smoking not long after I’d enlisted; by the time Xeno found out, I was already too far gone to stop.

Xeno sighed, then straightened. “Well, I have some news, too.”

“Oh yeah?”

“As of yesterday, I’m officially a NASA scientist.”

“Oho, congrats!” I said, grinning automatically. “What are you gonna be doing?”

“Working on rocket development, mostly. But I’m going to join in on some research, as well.”

“...So you’re literally gonna be a rocket scientist,” I smirked.

Xeno gave a loud laugh at that. “Yes. You can brag to all your friends.”

“Yeah, I can say with _experience_ whether something takes a rocket scientist or not.”

It felt good, us laughing at dumb jokes like this. Just like when we were kids.

“So, you won’t be going to space yourself, then?” I asked then.

Xeno sighed. “No, I wouldn’t pass the physical exam. But that’s alright. A ground crew is just as important.”

“That’s true. They can’t get to space to begin with without you guys,” I pointed out. When Xeno just nodded, I couldn’t help but ask. “...You’re happy, right?”

Xeno smiled warmly then. “Of course. This is what I always wanted. To be part of a team that’s going to take mankind to the stars. To have a hand in making the future.”

I smiled back. “Glad to hear it.”

Soon, though… I noticed something changing in Xeno.

Every video call we had after that, he seemed more tired than he had in the last. The dark circles under his eyes grew, and never seemed to leave. At first I thought I was imagining it, but over time, his enthusiasm lessened, and most troubling to me, the light in his eyes rarely showed. I asked him if anything was wrong, multiple times, and all he could say was that the work was hard, that it kept him up at night.

He’d always been happy to stay up ‘til all hours, and work as long as necessary, if it was for science.

Had I been foolish, I wondered. When Xeno told me of his plans to work for NASA, I thought it would be okay for me to leave to join the military — he’d be pursuing his dreams, with a group of people who thought and talked just like him; he wouldn’t need me around to protect him from anyone anymore. I thought he would be okay.

If this was his dream job… then why did he seem so unhappy?

Had I abandoned him after all?

It would be a long time before he would tell me what it was. Thousands of years, actually.

He hadn’t told his parents at the time, either. They were so proud of him, he didn’t want to let them down or make them worry. They wouldn’t have understood, anyway. And I guess I wouldn’t have, either.

All I knew at the time was that Xeno was sad, and there was very little I could do about it.

Being so far away, helpless to do anything to help my closest friend… it felt like shit. Before, when Xeno was down about something, I’d just make a stupid joke and wrap my arm around his shoulders, take him out for some fast food or to a shitty diner, anything to cheer him up again. But I was on a tour of duty, and couldn’t do most of those things, and what I _could_ do, wasn’t working.

We’d never been great at talking about our feelings, but it’d never been a problem until then.

Just how depressed was he?

I made arrangements to come back home to visit him, as soon as possible. I had moved up enough in rank by then, so I had some say in it, but not a lot, as it turned out.

That damn fucking roadside bomb.

It _nearly_ got me. It _did_ get some of my men, which rattled the shit out of me.

I was granted clearance to come back home for a visit right after that. Great.

But getting to see Xeno again after that, regardless… was all I really wanted. All I really needed.

When I got off my plane, and found him waiting there, smiling and holding a handwritten _‘Stanley Snyder’_ sign… I couldn’t control myself.

Before I could think of doing anything else, I pulled him into a hug, tighter and tighter, holding onto him like a tether. I buried my face in his shoulder, smelling his scent — clean, with a hint of cologne. Did he wear that for me… ?

It hit me like a ton of bricks then. _Dammit, I really do love him._

Xeno returned my hug, patting my back with a small chuckle. “It’s alright. You’re home.”

I damn near cried.

Instead, I pulled back and, on impulse, briefly kissed his forehead, right near his hairline. The faint blush that earned me, right across his cheeks, made my heart flip.

“I’m back,” I said, with a grin that felt boyish.

We left the airport, and afterward we talked and talked, mostly about what had happened to me.

(“Did you think of me? When that happened,” Xeno asked in a quiet voice; “You were all I thought about,” I replied without hesitating.)

I finally got to ask him about how he was doing here at home, at long last, and… he just said what he always said. That he was fine, just tired. And I could _feel_ that it was more than that. But he wouldn’t say it, not now. Not in the face of what had happened to me — his problems felt small in comparison, most likely.

There was nothing I could do about that, as much as it frustrated me. So I just enjoyed his company, and tried to keep the sounds and images of that event out of my head as long as possible. I managed to get him to smile more; by the time I had to go back, he seemed much happier than he had when I arrived.

Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to last long.

During our next video call, a week later, he looked just as tired and weary again. I changed the wording of my usual question. “Is something bugging you lately?”

Xeno let out a sigh. “It’s too much to explain… just, I never thought it would be so hard to get people to care about science...”

“Oh,” I said. Too much to explain? Nothing was ever too much for him to explain to me, even the most complicated of scientific jargon. “What kinda people? Kids?”

“It’s not hard with kids… it’s the adults that are the problem. Politicians, religious moralizers, ignoramuses…” He shook his head. “I just... worry for the future of this world…”

I could _feel_ the weight of his depression, even from thousands of miles away. And worse, I couldn’t say anything to cheer him up; being in the military didn’t make me feel any more optimistic about the state of the world, either.

He’d never gotten even close to this down back when I was with him. I didn’t know what he’d do while alone, and it sure didn’t sound like he did much socializing outside of work, either.

I’d seen guys afflicted with depression, among my fellow soldiers; how they’d carry on like they were fine, but burdened with a despair that no one else could touch, that no amount of cheering up would help. One guy was in therapy now after a suicide attempt.

What wasn’t I seeing? What was Xeno hiding from me? By the time I found out… would it be too late?

I wasn’t used to feeling so powerless. I couldn’t stop worrying about him. I almost _prayed._

(Why would God listen to a sniper, anyway?)

Not long after that point, it seemed my unsaid prayer had been answered — in our next video call, Xeno’s mood had done a one-eighty. He was actually _smiling,_ like he used to.

“You’re in a good mood,” I pointed out. “Did something happen?”

“Well,” he said with a happy sigh, “I guess you could say that.”

Then he told me about him. This ten-year-old kid from Japan who’d damn near hacked NASA to get the answers he seeked, and sent an email in English when he got stuck, which would’ve gone unanswered if not for Xeno’s interest. 

Senku Ishigami.

He spoke of him with such awe, such excitement, such _reverence,_ it took me aback. He _never_ talked that way about anybody before; his praise alone was hard to earn.

(I learned that as a kid, which made it more satisfying when he did praise me for retaining some bit of knowledge or coming to the same conclusion he did; which only made me try harder.)

“He’s a special lil’ guy, isn’t he?” I asked, amused but relieved.

“Oh Stan, you have no idea. I’m going to be his long-distance mentor,” he beamed.

“Isn’t that going to be tough? The language barrier and all.”

“He’s learning English right now! And I’ve started to teach myself Japanese. We’ll meet in the middle somehow,” he shrugged. “He learns so fast! He’s very determined — he never gives up!”

“He reminds you of yourself when you were a kid, huh,” I pointed out with a knowing smirk.

Xeno smirked right back. “How’d you guess?”

I took a drag of my cig. “He sounds just like a little you.”

He sighed softly. “Well, I won’t lie — he does remind me of myself. And I want to give him the guidance that I wish I’d received when I was his age.”

“Oh?” That made me curious. It wasn’t like his parents didn’t support him at all, and I always tried my best. Did that mean…? “Don’t make him too cynical, now,” I half-joked.

Xeno laughed. “I’ll try not to. Though even if I tried, it probably wouldn’t take,” he shook his head. “Idealistic youth, you know.”

“Sure,” I finished my cigarette, putting it out in an ashtray out of the camera’s view. “Just don’t look too overly invested in this online relationship, alright? People might think it’s messed up.”

Xeno quirked an eyebrow cutely. “What do you mean?”

“They might think you’re a pedo,” I replied with a crooked grin.

Xeno gave an angry little scoff. “ _Honestly._ Must people have such dirty minds?”

“Just tellin’ ya what your co-workers might think. So keep it on the down-low, alright?” I winked secretively.

Xeno huffed. “I’m hanging up!”

“I’ve gotta go anyway!” I laughed.

“Bye!”

The call ended, but I was still smiling. It’d been a while since I could tease him like that. Seeing the flustered look on his face made it all worth it.

It was a weird development, but… I was happy for him, all the same. If mentoring this Japanese kid could get Xeno through shitty work days and when I was too busy to call him, then so be it.

When I asked him why talking to that kid seemed to satisfy him more than his work did, he said it was an outlet for his “pure passion for science.”

Whatever it was, it kept him going. I worried about him less, finally relieved. He’d be okay. That kid was depending on him to be.

I still missed seeing him, though. I visited him as often as I could, but our fields didn’t often cross paths.

Until one day.

The circumstances were fishy as hell, but that didn’t matter much to me, at first — finally, we had an excuse to see each other at work.

He smiled, complimented me on how handsome I looked in my uniform. “Thanks, _Doctor_ Xeno,” I replied with a grin. He had since earned a Ph.D, and a great deal more respect at work, if his being here, at this meeting of elites, was any indication. For my part, I had moved up the ranks to Captain.

We made good use of our years spent apart.

I took advantage of the opportunity to sit right next to him at the “tech expo” meeting, no one batting an eye. We were still at ease with each other, as if we’d never been separated at all. Just like always, Xeno started on a rambling, technical explanation of his studies, me having to remind him, as always, to sum it up, Reader’s Digest-version.

It’s a good thing I did that, in retrospect. Hah.

When the light came… I protected Xeno without even thinking about it. And he let me, even though he probably knew it would be useless, too. He trusted in me, and I trusted in his word that we would all be alright, someday, somehow.

That’s the trust that we had in each other, even after all these years.

Honestly, it wasn’t so hard to keep my mind going. All my experience with hunting and sniping had instilled both patience and focus. But even a sniper’s mind can wander, especially when there’s nothing in sight.

And of course, my thoughts wandered to him.

Was he still near me? I couldn’t tell. I hoped so. Hoped that I could protect him for however long this would last — days, months, years… hundreds of years… 

Were all humans turned to stone, or just us? If anyone came upon us, what would they think of Xeno and I, frozen in this position… ?

Would they think we were lovers?

...I realized that thought didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

Perhaps we weren’t _lovers_ in the specific sense of the word… but if there was anyone in this world who I could say I loved, it was him.

After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about him, my sniper’s hypervigilance replaced by his face, his voice, his scientific ramblings and the smiles he’d show me, only me.

...What was wrong, exactly, about loving him?

Because he was a man? Sure, some people had still been dicks about that shit, but more were starting to come around, or at least be more accepting of it. Hell, gay marriage just got approved for all the states just a few years back. Things were getting better.

(And my father? He was already long dead by then — massive heart attack, while I was on a tour; I skipped the funeral, and since I was “serving my country,” no one minded)

But did _I_ care that he was a man?

...No.

He was Xeno — that’s all I cared about.

And I wasn’t a weak kid anymore. If anyone had shit to say about me being with a man, they’d have to talk to my fist first.

...Yeah.

That time in the stone, just me and my thoughts, made me realize I didn’t care that I was gay anymore.

And as the years passed — or what felt like it; I wished I’d started counting — the less I felt that me being gay and in love with a man would matter, once we finally broke free. If we ever did…

Realizing _that,_ made me feel a lil’ stir-crazy for a while. _Would_ we break out someday? That’s the one thing that Xeno hadn’t found out, yet. I’m sure he would have, if he’d had enough time.

No, we _would_ break out someday. And Xeno would be the first, I just knew it. If anyone could, it would be him.

That, more than anything else, kept me going from then on — I’d break out too, right after, and I would tell him everything. Tell him that I loved him.

That thought, that stubborn desire, kept my neurons firing for years and years, damn near _willing_ the stone off of me.

 _He_ was my target now, and I wouldn’t rest until he was in my sights again.

Then, at last, at long last— I broke free.

The light was blinding at first; my senses returned all at once, almost overwhelming me.

I felt a gentle touch on my face. My vision cleared.

“You did it.”

Xeno greeted me with a soft, prideful smile. My eyes widened at his new appearance — was that a scar? But I quickly overlooked it.

Xeno. The man I’d been thinking of for… I didn’t know how many years. He was _here;_ not a dream, not a fantasy.

My just-restarted heart skipped a beat.

I smiled. “So did you.”

Then he did the unthinkable.

He leaned in… and put his lips on mine.

I hesitated, but only for a half-second — I kissed him back without restraint, and he returned it. 

He pulled back first, to take a breath. He wiped his mouth with a smile. “I guess we were thinking about the same thing.”

“Xeno-”

“Wait,” he said, pulling me by the wrist. “Come in here. The others might awake any minute now.”

I complied, and he pulled me into a nearby cave.

“See this?” he pointed at the rock wall. “It’s saltpeter. We can make gunpowder.”

I smirked, lifting his chin. “You’re already talking dirty.”

I kissed him this time, hot and heavy, against the cave wall; my tongue traced his lips and they opened willingly, our tongues moving together like they always knew how. That warm feeling, the same feeling I had that fall night stargazing with Xeno in the woods, the same feeling I had when I hugged him at the airport after nearly losing my life, bloomed in my chest and spread outward, overtaking my senses.

Xeno pulled back for air, which frankly I needed too. “You’re feeling it too, aren’t you,” he breathed with a delighted smile. “That surge of oxytocin. Such an elegant chemical-”

“More,” I near-growled, claiming his mouth again.

In the stillness of the cave, the wet sounds of our mouths moving against each other, and the beating of our hearts, was all I could hear. It was too damn erotic.

But at the same time, that feeling of warmth in me remained. What else could I call it?

I pulled back slightly. “I’ve loved you… all this time…” I panted in a low rasp against his lips.

Xeno placed a small kiss on my lips. “Thousands of years?”

“Longer than that.” I kissed him back. I couldn’t stop doing it for long, punctuating my words with them; I couldn’t get enough. “Since we were kids… I didn’t know what to call it, at first… for a while…”

Xeno kissed me in return. “I’ve loved you too. Just as long.”

“Xeno-!”

I couldn’t believe it. I embraced him tight, to keep myself from crying right then and there. I loved him, and he loved me right back. I didn’t care what this new world held — as long as that was true, I could handle it.

Of course, given that we were both as naked as the day we were born at this point, in my impulsive embrace, my hard cock rubbed up against his, sending a shiver through me; when it reacted too, I knew that it wouldn’t go unnoticed by Xeno.

I felt his smaller, more delicate hand touch it, fingertips tracing the length. “Oh, what are we going to do about this?” he teased. It twitched under his touch.

I let out a low groan, and reached down, finding Xeno’s cock, just as hard as mine. I gave it a teasing trace of my own. “What _are_ we going to do… ?” I said in a sultry whisper into the crook of his neck.

Xeno shivered, and I grasped both his cock and mine, gasping at the feeling of them meeting. I began to move my hand, slowly— and Xeno’s hand came down to meet it, wrapping around from the opposite side.

My hand was enough for both of us — his cock was smaller than mine — but him clasping tight to it, moving with me, _helping_ me… it sparked something in me I couldn’t describe.

I sped up, Xeno keeping up with me, his thumb giving teasing swipes over my cock head every time our hands went up.

It felt so damn good. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, overcome, panting and kissing the skin I found there. The sounds that Xeno was making… I’ll never forget them. His often-rambling mouth instead let out little grunts and moans, and sometimes “Stan,” in this helpless voice, lost to the pleasure.

It was too much; my movements became frantic and I was moaning into his shoulder — I was close, and I knew he was, too.

But of course, that didn’t keep him from saying so.

“Stan,” he said into my ear, breathless, “I’m close. More.”

His whisper set a fire in me, and moments later I came with a _loud_ moan — or at least it sounded that way, in the echo of the cave. Xeno came right after, us both splattered in it, mostly unable to tell which was whose.

I lifted my head, catching my breath. In the dim light of the cave, I could make out Xeno’s flushed face. Scar or not, it was beautiful. I caught his lips in another kiss, needing to feel them on mine again.

My legs felt weak, and apparently Xeno’s did, too — I felt his knees buckle and I caught him instinctively, even while my own knees wobbled.

“We can lie down here… for a bit…” Xeno offered, pointing to the cave floor.

Feeling airy from the afterglow, I complied without much thought, getting down onto the smooth dirt and rock of the cave’s floor and lying on my back. Xeno rolled on top of me, resting his head on my chest. I wrapped an arm around him to pull him close as we both caught our breath.

“Mmm… the sound of your heartbeat’s so elegant…” Xeno muttered.

I sighed softly, stroking his arm. I missed the weird things he always said.

“Hmm… Stan?” he said a couple minutes later.

“Mm?”

“Do you usually catch your breath this soon?”

“Uh… I guess this is a little sooner than usual. Why?”

“Sit up.”

He sat up, looking down at me expectantly. Puzzled, I sat up too, and as soon as I did, he slid behind me. I felt him lean in… and put his _ear_ on my back.

“Take a deep breath,” he said before I could ask him why. I did. “Another,” he said after I let it out.

“Okay… what’s this about?”

He shuffled back to look at me, his eyes lit up with a different kind of excitement than they had been moments ago. “I’d need to recheck later with a glass, or a proper stethoscope… but your lungs sound completely healthy. Like you never smoked a day in your life.”

I blinked at him for a moment, surprised but knowing he’d never bullshit about something like this. “Huh… maybe it’s the thousands of years I wasn’t smoking… ?”

Xeno shook his head, pondering. I missed watching him think, too. “No, I don’t think that’s it. The petrification turns the entire body to stone, halting _all_ cellular processes, in addition to breathing. I had assumed that it put the body in a kind of stasis, and that it would break out in the same condition that it had been petrified in… but that wasn’t the case with you. Your body wouldn’t have been able to heal itself _while_ you were petrified… so, it was the de-petrification that did it!” he concluded, and I could damn near see the lightbulb above his head.

I processed all that. “So… the petrification leaves scars, but heals the body. Not bad,” I smirked.

“Yes!” Xeno said, nearly bouncing in place. “I’ll have to speak with the others to confirm the theory, but if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known what questions to ask!” He leaned in to kiss my cheek. “Thank you!”

I could _feel_ the blush that emerged from that, my heart picking up speed again. I smirked in spite of that. “No problem.”

I looked down at myself then. “Huh. My scars are gone, too.”

Xeno closed in on me again, examining me with a buzzing excitement as I pointed out where my old scars used to be. Helping him with his scientific research… just like the old days.

“Ah, you haven’t seen your new scar yet, have you?” Xeno said then. “I found a body of water earlier, so I’ve seen mine already…”

“Is mine that big?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“No no,” Xeno shook his head. “Here.” He stretched out his hand, placed a fingertip on my face. He traced thin lines with it, slowly, down from my eyes and across my nose. “Like that. Much thinner.” He smiled. “It compliments you.”

I smiled back. “Can’t wait to see it myself. Makes up for losing the other ones.” 

“It does. They’re quite elegant.”

 _God,_ he flirted so effortlessly. _How am I gonna keep my hands off him?_ I thought.

“So, are we gonna greet the others like this, or… ?” I said then, gesturing down at our nakedness and drying cum.

“Ah, hold on!” Xeno snuck out of the cave for a moment, and brought back boughs of leafy branches. “Here. We’ll have to rough it like cavemen, at least until we can make proper clothing.”

“Sure,” I said, grabbing a bundle from him, making use of some of the leaves to wipe off the remaining cum before I wrapped myself in what was left. “Though we could always be nudists.”

“Oh, that wouldn’t be practical at all! Completely inelegant,” Xeno said, shaking his head as he covered himself, not realizing yet I was teasing him.

“Easier clean-up, though,” I said with a devilish grin, leaning down to peck him on the cheek.

He smiled back at me with a blush of his own. _“Stan…”_

We stared at each other for a moment; I certainly wasn’t against having a round two. But then he turned to grab my hand, pulling me forward. “Come on, the others are waiting! There will be time for that later.”

I shoved down any complaints, just happy to be holding his hand without having to worry about being seen. We stepped out of the cave, feeling a bit like we were Adam and Eve… Adam and Steve? I dunno.

Xeno paused and turned to me, his eyes lit up just like they used to. “I’ve got plans for us, and we’re going to pursue them together. You and me, and all of our allies! I’ll tell you everything later.”

I grinned back. “I’m looking forward to it.”

We went back to where the others were, and found them either having already broken out of the stone, or just coming out of it. Looked like Xeno’s theory was right on the money.

From then on, we all pitched in on doing the unglamorous work of making this new, untamed world livable for humans again — and Xeno and I spent more time together than we had since we were kids. I loved watching him work, concocting chemicals and delegating tasks to others; high on his priority list was making me a gun, which was both a luxury and necessity at that point — he knew I loved them, sure, but there was also the issue of defending our small group from wolves, bears, mountain lions… and whatever random animals were left over from those that had escaped from zoos.

He made me a small one first — making me a proper sniper rifle would take longer, he said — with a generous supply of ammunition, which I quickly put to use in hunting wild game. When I came back to our home base with as many kills as I could carry, enough fresh meat to sustain all of us until we could round up some cattle, Xeno met me with the biggest smile on his face, his pride in me palpable.

“So it worked?” he asked.

“Like a charm. I got us dinner and then some.” I readjusted my load on my shoulder, and leaned down to kiss Xeno’s forehead, before walking on, casual as anything. “Let’s go prep ‘em.”

Xeno caught up to me, his face reddened and looking ever so slightly flustered as he looked up at me. “I have the fire ready to smoke them.”

“Nice.” I couldn’t help but feel like a husband coming home to his wife right then, dinner in tow — and it wouldn’t be the last time I thought of him like that. 

Now he’s more than eager to make any sort of gadget I could possibly use to help make my work easier — even if I don’t necessarily _need_ those things. I suppose he’s making up for lost time; he had made things for me to use in the field while hunting back when I was a teen, but I could never bring them when my dad was with me.

And me? I did everything Xeno wanted me to do, without question or complaint; still do. 

Xeno told me his plans — to create a new world order, ruled by science, and by himself. Apparently he had idly dreamed of ruling the world, even before this all happened — that was how dissatisfied he was with the way things were, how disillusioned his work had made him.

If it were anyone else, I would say that they were crazy. But Xeno… I believe in him. I always have. And even if he _is_ crazy… well, it’s not like I can fix that.

But I don’t want to think about that. As he would say, there’s a non-zero chance that this could work. That he could remake and rule this new world in his vision. And in that world, if its ruler had a man as his lover… no one could say shit about it, huh?

I don’t know if he’ll succeed or fail at this… but nevertheless, I’ll be by his side, supporting and protecting him all the way.

I owe him that.

I’ll be the knight to your king, Xeno.

(You taught me how to play chess — you always won, but I learned every time I lost to you.)

I’ll never abandon you again.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> \- Go get your man, Stan  
> \- I estimate Stanley and Xeno to be around the same age I am (early 30's, millennial), so I wrote them likewise. Stanley's gay struggle was my gay struggle  
> \- Xeno definitely, _definitely_ watched Bill Nye the Science Guy as a kid. (I did, too)  
> \- The sounds in the woods scene was brought to you by my life in a house in a hole in the woods and my occasional stargazing mini sessions... that last horrifying noise based on one I actually heard in the woods once :'D I still don't know what it was...  
> \- I really couldn't help but reference the ["helpful wife"](https://twitter.com/CDCubed/status/1272207115055063040) [interpretation](https://twitter.com/neoki_sngn/status/1272210685305294848) in this, lol  
> \- Just a friendly reminder: If you're American and you're able to do so, don't forget to vote, if you haven't yet! (Via in-person or drop-box!) Who would Xeno vote for? Probably the guy endorsed by _Scientific American._  
>  \- Feel free to join the Dr. Stone shipping server on Discord! All ships are welcome! We have lots of events scheduled, RP our fave ships, share headcanons, fanart, fic and more! [Click here to join us~!](https://discord.gg/N7ejy2W)


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